Chad, what do you think Memphis will do with Rudy Gay? Keeping his contract after this season is impossible to do! Assuming they resign Tony Allen and guys like Wayne Ellington, keeping Gay will cost the Grizzlies a fortune. What do you think will happen?
Chad Ford
(1:12 PM)

Based on Lionel Hollins' recent comments disparaging advanced statistics and arguing that the Grizzlies need to keep Gay - he must feel like the Grizzlies are going to move him. Seemed like a direct shot across the bow of new Grizzlies exec John Hollinger. If there really is a mandate from ownership to stop the financial bleeding, Gay is the best asset they have move ... and there is a lot of interest. I think he's gone.

Maybe the asking price comes down? I'd do Calderon and ED in an instant. Both those guys have high PER's which should be pleasing to Mr. Hollinger and the trade would get them under the luxury tax.... if not throw in Selby or someone and they are there.

Source with a team interested in Rudy Gay: the Gay-for-Jared Dudley/Michael Beasley deal was leaked in order to

generate more offers from around the league. The response when other GMs heard about the offer was, "Hey, we can do better than that." The Grizzlies, if they are going to move Gay, want a young SF on a smaller contract and a draft pick. The Wizards, as has been reported, will not put Bradley Beal in the deal and can only offer players (Trevor Ariza, Emeka Okafor) who would save the Grizzlies from incurring the super luxury tax in two years, not a luxury-tax hit this summer. Same goes for the Warriors, who would have to include Richard Jefferson or Andris Biedrins, both of whom have player options for next season that they're expected to keep.

The Grizz might not move Gay before the Feb. 21 trade deadline, but rest assured he'll be dealt before next season. (Or maybe it'll ultimately have to be Randolph if it's not Gay). If new management opts to give this core one last shot at a long playoff run, it'll be because it couldn't swing a palatable deal before the deadline, not nostalgia.

The criticism once aimed -- appropriately -- at LeBron James for not fully utilizing his physical gifts is why Rudy

Gay is considered vastly overpaid at $16.4 million (a deal that goes up to $17.8 million next season and $19.3 million in 2014-15), never has been an All-Star and is considered expendable by the Grizzlies. He's listed at 6'8" and 230 pounds, which is about as outdated as James' 6'8" and 250 pounds. I get why guys want to be listed as smaller than they are -- it makes their lack of game and aggression around the rim a little more acceptable. I've seen Gay standing next to David Lee and Carl Landry and he's every bit of 6'9" as they are and carries at least Lee's 240 pounds and maybe Landry's 248. Athletically, he's comparable to LeBron. So why isn't he a double-double machine, triple-double threat and vaunted defender? Why does he average less than a block a game for his career? The presence of Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol doesn't explain it as much as the fact that Gay is not discernibly proficient at anything. He has no post game, he's an inconsistent three-point shooter and I defy you to tell me what his go-to move is. Thinking about how gifted he is and what he's doing with those gifts is depressing, so I'm going to stop. But for those wondering why he would be available or why the entire league isn't falling over itself to acquire him, don't put it merely on the money. This is his seventh year in the league and I don't see what he does appreciably better now than when he came into the league. Pundits love to crush Josh Smith, but he puts out twice the effort that Gay does and has added plenty to his game. And, for the record, I didn't start this note with the intention of killing Gay -- it just came out of me as I thought about who he is compared to what he could be. 8 minutes ago

Trading Z Bo would be incredibly dumb he and Gasol are so deadly downlow, sure Z-Bo has health issues but I would much rather part with Rudy Gay, good Bigs providing solid post presence win games. If I was in charge of Memphis I would look at the record I have andkeep the team together I dont see why they are bother with a trade. Pay the tax!

Very funny to read through this thread now with the hindsight glasses on. Just another thing that highlights how Rudy Gay and the Toronto Raptors were meant to be.

Rudy has been impressive so far...but it's only been 2 games, and everything about how hard it will be to add pieces to this team is still true. Regardless of how this turns out, it still stands out primarily as a job-saving move by BC, even if it ends up being beneficial.